So it has been determined that the kids of the U.S. are 48 out of 133 in Mathematics and Science. That puts us in the top 36%. Not so bad. "But this is the United States, we're supposed to be number 1 in everything." Not so fast. I think I have an easy answer for these numbers.
The U.S. kids are ranked 48th because they are already here. The other 132 countries' kids are trying to get to the U.S., so they have a lot more motivation. If our kids were to be deported because of poor scores, there wouldn't be any poor scores. We would be number 1 in every category.
While lil Joey and Sheniqua are busy launching birds at green pigs, standing in lines for overpriced phones and shoes, and worrying about how many "friends" they accumulated; lil Akbar and Ling Lee are hitting the books and abbaci and in turn taking away scholarships.
I'm not worried about being 48th. I am a bit concerned about how these kids are going to grow into responsible adults. I suppose us Americans have always had things that preoccupies our time but how do we get these kids focused a little more on the 3 R's. I don't know.( maybe he should try the deportation thing) If we don't find an answer soon, I won't be surprised when the U.S. is 133rd.
I am working on my grad studies for becoming a teacher and there is a lot of discussion and controversy about this very fact, but here is one of the main reasons.
ReplyDeleteThere are several countries that have their educational system under control while ours is suffering, but it is not really accurate for them to say that we rank that low.
In the U.S. we offer an education to everyone. So, that means that every single child is included in our figure. However, many other country to not have an all inclusive educational system. So, their test scores are only for the people who have the resources to educate their children or, in some cases, the children who have shown that will do well in school. Several countries drop kids who can't keep up and send them home to learn a trade rather than "waste their time and resources" with schooling.
Therefore, until all countries use the exact same standards to make these determinations, we can't trust the numbers. The same can be said about most government research studies.
Thanks for the info Brett. You'd think we could get it from the same source you brought us the story. But then I guess there wouldn't be a story.
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